By Gabriel Olawale

Ecotutu, a startup accelerating off-grid cooling solutions is set to launch a solar-powered cold storage infrastructure in Mile 12 Market, Lagos, to provide market-led solutions to post-harvest losses causing wastage of fresh produce.
The cold storage infrastructure launch which is scheduled to take place on April 4, 2023, will fill fresh produce supply chain gaps and facilitate marketplace opportunities for farmers and aggregators.
Spraking on this development, Co-founder and CMO of Ecotutu, Michael Akinsete, said that the mission of Ecotutu is to provide access to affordable and reliable cold storage solutions in Africa.
“Nigerian farmers, aggregators, and retailers manage up to 23 million metric tons of fresh fruits and other vegetables worth $4 billion annually, yet the country loses between 35 and 45 percent of these due to postharvest issues during storage and distribution.”
“Each unit of Ecotutu’s solution eliminates food waste and preserves the economic value of food, enabling farmers to take a more significant share of their harvest to market. And more importantly, it boosts the confidence of the value chain players to remain in the food business.”
Corroborating his views, Founder and Chief Executive of Ecotutu, Babajide Oluwase, said that the solar powered cooling infrastructure is designed, developed, and deployed by his organisation.
Oluwase noted that for the Ecotutu Hub, his organisation is working with Self Chill – its cooling technology partner based in Germany.
He added that the hub is 100 percent solar-powered with a combination of renewable and thermal power to provide non-stop cooling without the use of batteries. “It is designed to operate even in areas not connected to the electricity grid,” he noted.